Shadow box

ABSTRACT

An enclosure having a translucent screen at the front thereof, a plastic screen having a pattern thereon parallel to and spaced from the translucent screen, and colored light bulbs arranged on the inside surface of the rear of the enclosure for blinking various colored patterns onto the translucent screen.

United States Patent 1151 3,666,936

Webster, Jr. et a1. May 30, 1972 [54] SHADOW BOX 1,619,096 3 1927 Walsh ..40/130 B [72] Inventors: Ranson W. Webster, Jr., 8606 Clifl'wood Way; Ernst H- Jarke, Ill, 8467 Everglade 1 9 5 7 1 934 D12, both Of Sacramento, Calif. 95826 72: 3 9 9 4 22 Filed: June 30, 1970 2,345,998 4/ 1944 2,522,098 9/1950 [21] Appl. No.: 51,201

Primary Examiner-Louis .l. Capozi Attorney-Alexander B. Blair [52] US. Cl ..240/2, 40/130, 240/10 [51] Int. Cl. ..F2lv 33/00 [57] ABSTRACT [58] Field of Search ..40/130, 132, 130 B, 106.52,

40/219; 1 l6/l24.1, 124.4; 240/ 10.2 An enclosure having a translucent screen at the front thereof, a plastic screen having a pattern thereon parallel to and spaced from the translucent screen, and colored light bulbs ar- 56 References Cited ranged on the inside surface of the rear of the enclosure for TE T S P E blinking various colored patterns onto the translucent screen.

1,212,069 l/1917 Kaiser ..240/l0 X 1 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Patented May 30, 1972 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 XW f i/WW WM/ SHADOW BOX This invention relates to a shadow box for producing different effects which may be utilized for amusement or educational purposes.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide means for producing an effect consisting of various colored blinking patterns simultaneously and alternatively in different areas of a screen.

Another object of this invention is to provide various patterns for amusement and educational purposes.

A further object of this invention is to provide means for adjusting the lighting arrangement and distances between screens for varying the effect produced.

A still further object of this invention is to provide means for producing an effect where the objects seen on the screen appear to be moving notwithstanding they are actually static.

The above and other objects of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of this invention taken together with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective cut-away view of the shadow box;

P16. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 44 of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawing in detail, there is shown a box-like enclosure having vertical grooves 12 and 14 in the inside surface of side walls 16 and extensions 18 extending from the inside surface of the rear wall 20. Extensions 18 may be spaced along the inside of rear wall 20 in any type of symmetrical and non-symmetrical pattern. Attached to extensions 18 are light sockets 20 with single or multiple colored light bulbs 22 for blinking undiffused light. Sockets 20 are connected in series by means of a wire 24 which leads to a source of power (not shown). The bottom wall 26 is removably attached to enclosure 10' and has horizontal grooves 28 and 30 corresponding to grooves 12 and 14 respectively. Vertically housed within enclosure 10 and more specifically within grooves 14 and 30 is a clear plastic sheet 32 having on the surface thereof facing bulbs 22 a positive or negative image layer 34 placed thereon by silk screening or some other desired method. Vertically housed within grooves 12 and 28 is an outer screen 36 consisting of a translucent white plastic or some other desired material.

Layer 34 may be any type of pattern of pictures, textural material, the ABC's, nursery ryhmes, etc. As each bulb 22 blinks on, it will project the pattern image of a small area of layer 34 directly in front of bulb 22 onto screen 36. At any one time, there may be one or more projections of different areas of image layer 34 in different colors giving the viewer an aesthetic lighting effect in addition to viewing the specific energies of layer 34.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that while the preferred embodiments of this invention have been illustrated and described, various changes and modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For instance, there may be a plurality of grooves in the walls of enclosure 10 so that sheet 32 and screen 36 may be placed at varying distances from each other and bulbs 22 in order to vary the lighting efiect produced. Likewise, there may be extra grooves so that a plurality of sheets 32 with layers 34 may be used' simultaneously. There are, of course, a plurality of sheets 32 with various pattern layers 34 thereon for interchangeability within enclosure 10. Enclosure 10 may be of any size and may consist of any type of desired material. It should also be noted that screens 36 and 32 may be made of any appropriate material which produces the specified effects.

We claim:

l. A shadow box comprising a housing, light sockets connected in series to a power source and spaced in a desired pattern within said housing attached to the rear wall thereof, colored light bulbs mounted in said sockets capable of casting undifiused light, a transgiarent sup rt sheet secured within said housing parallel to e rear w 1 thereof, an image layer supported on the surface of said sheet facing saidbulbs, a translucent screen spaced from and positioned on the side of said transpatent sheet opposite said rear wall and forming the front of said housing, said bulbs blinking and projecting simultaneously and in alternative various images from said image layer of difierent colors onto said translucent screen in different areas thereof producing an aesthetic lighting effect, said image layer forming illustrative and textural material for the amusement and education of the viewer and a bottom wall detachably secured on said housing for access to said housing for varying the geometric arrangement in which said bulbs are spaced from each other and changing the spacing of said transparent sheet and said translucent screen from each other and the rear of said housing thereby producing different lighting efiects on said translucent screen.

II i IF 

1. A shadow box comprising a housing, light sockets connected in series to a power source and spaced in a desired pattern within said housing attached to the rear wall thereof, colored light bulbs mounted in said sockets capable of casting undiffused light, a transparent support sheet secured within said housing parallel to the rear wall thereof, an image layer supported on the surface of said sheet facing said bulbs, a translucent screen spaced from and positioned on the side of said transpatent sheet opposite said rear wall and forming the front of said housing, said bulbs blinking and projecting simultaneously and in alternative various images from said image layer of different colors onto said translucent screen in different areas thereof producing an aesthetic lighting effect, said image layer forming illustrative and textural material for the amusement and education of the viewer and a bottom wall detachably secured on said housing for access to said housing for varying the geometric arrangement in which said bulbs are spaced from each other and changing the spacing of said transparent sheet and said translucent screen from each other and the rear of said housing thereby producing different lighting effects on said translucent screen. 